Finally reached a pinnacle

[Jerry Bransford]

Originally posted by mrblaine
Nope, it's the DP71199.

edit- Why are you looking at pads for an Excursion?

I just did a search for EBC Green 7000 Ford and SUV and that's the closest match that popped up, there were a ton of hits, that's a popular pad. I don't remember if it said Excursion but if it did, I wouldn't have known any better anyway.

[heep]

Well just as I expected. EBC makes no pad for a CJ. I guess Van's hydroboost is my next step. I would say that's alot of money, but what price am I putting on my family and myself. Guess I really need to start to research this thing.
HEEP

[Jeff Weston]

Originally posted by heep
Well just as I expected. EBC makes no pad for a CJ. I guess Van's hydroboost is my next step. I would say that's alot of money, but what price am I putting on my family and myself. Guess I really need to start to research this thing.
HEEP

It only seems like a lot of money until your first test drive and you almost throw your unsuspecting passenger through the windshield.

[StealthTJ]

Blaine,
In all your testing did you try any of the Hawk series of pads and, if so, how did they do in relation to the rest (and which particular ones did you test).




Thanks,
Fred

[mrblaine]

Originally posted by StealthTJ
Blaine,
In all your testing did you try any of the Hawk series of pads and, if so, how did they do in relation to the rest (and which particular ones did you test).




Thanks,
Fred

Yes we did Fred. We tested the HPS compound and the HP SuperDuty compound, both of which peformed near the bottom of the pile with the S/D being only marginally better than the HP.

[RedRubiTJ]

Originally posted by 1BLKJP
Any results yet with them keeping 37's stopped on the trail with 4.88's or 5.13's and a 4:1?

Jack, the big brakes and the previous pads were great on the trail stopping on ascents or descents with 37's, 5.13's and a 4:1. I had just gotten them fully worn in when blaine called me down for a pad change.

I am likely going out tomorrow and if I do I will let you know how they work out. I am withholding my comments on these new pads untill I have spent a little more time with them on the road and on the trail since they have only been on a couple of days.

-Chuck

edit: To clarify, I have Kat's brakes, not the previous VBB.

[StealthTJ]

Originally posted by mrblaine
Yes we did Fred. We tested the HPS compound and the HP SuperDuty compound, both of which peformed near the bottom of the pile with the S/D being only marginally better than the HP.

Blaine,
By any chance did you try the yellow racing version of the same pads (which I believe are streetable), the number would be: DP41199R



Thanks,
Fred

[mrblaine]

Originally posted by RedRubiTJ
Jack, the big brakes and the previous pads were great on the trail stopping on ascents or descents with 37's, 5.13's and a 4:1. I had just gotten them fully worn in when blaine called me down for a pad change.

I am likely going out tomorrow and if I do I will let you know how they work out. I am withholding my comments on these new pads untill I have spent a little more time with them on the road and on the trail since they have only been on a couple of days.

-Chuck

edit: To clarify, I have Kat's brakes, not the previous VBB.

To Clarify further, you do not have Kat's brakes. You have an upgraded version for testing of the 15" kit.

[mrblaine]

Originally posted by StealthTJ
Blaine,
By any chance did you try the yellow racing version of the same pads (which I believe are streetable), the number would be: DP41199R



Thanks,
Fred

Fred, you are confusing me. The pads you referenced earlier are the Hawk pads and then you tossed up an EBC number.

We did not try the EBC Yellow Stuff pad yet. At 120 bucks a set, we're about out of testing funds.

Also, I'd not like to saddle anyone with poor cold stop characteristics.

After Van replenishes the testing fund, I would like to try the SUV version of the yellow pad though, which is supposed to be different than the Yellow Race only pad, just out of curiosity.

The hardest part is finding anyone who knows the difference in the compounds and can apply the knowledge to what we need a pad to do.

[StealthTJ]

Originally posted by mrblaine
Fred, you are confusing me. The pads you referenced earlier are the Hawk pads and then you tossed up an EBC number.

We did not try the EBC Yellow Stuff pad yet. At 120 bucks a set, we're about out of testing funds.

Also, I'd not like to saddle anyone with poor cold stop characteristics.

After Van replenishes the testing fund, I would like to try the SUV version of the yellow pad though, which is supposed to be different than the Yellow Race only pad, just out of curiosity.

The hardest part is finding anyone who knows the difference in the compounds and can apply the knowledge to what we need a pad to do.

Blaine,
Sorry, I changed pages on you

The cold stop characteristics is why I was asking if you had tested those.
If so, I was going to ask you about how they cold stopped.



Thanks,
Fred

[Kiwi]

I have to agree that the pinnacle may have been reached.

I got one of the original 15" kits back in August last year. As everyone knows (or should) this is a huge improvement over the stock brakes. I was really happy with the kit and the performance. The Performance Friction pads left a little to be desired on cold stop performance, but worked well for me when the were warm.

As the testing went on, and Blaine kept reporting improvements my brake foot was getting itchy for something even better.

I was talking with Blaine a month or so ago and he told me about the upgraded calipers he was testing and the Centric ceramic 105 series pads, so I went out and bought the new calipers and pads.
So now I had the original rotors, with upgraded calipers and the latest and greatest pads that had been discovered.
The difference from the original kit, was about as big an improvement as the first kit was from stock. The cold stop was so much better, and when they got some heat in, the stopping was amazing.
The different caliper and pads gave a more "car-like" pedal feel than the original caliper. I was a happy camper
I was reporting this to Blaine, and told him I didn't think you could get any better braking than this on 35''s and he chuckled and said "oh we've just found an even better pad"

Well I ordered up the EBC 7000 series Green stuff pads, they arrived yesterday. This afternoon I put them on.
Blaine had explained the break-in which was a little different with this pad, more lower speed stops first, cool off then a couple of 60 - 2 mph. I got done with the 20 or so slower stops and then rode around for a bit letting them cool. Got up to 60 for the first high speed stop and hit the brake pedal. Holy crap. I wasn't really prepared for the aggressiveness of this stop, and as they got hotter they kept grabbing harder. Absolutely amazing!
These pads have quite a different feel to them than the Centrics which were quite different than the PF before them. Less pedal effort and they do start to grab far earlier. It's hard to explain, but you can actually feel these pads working.

Blaine and Van need to stop testing pads now, I've got brakes that I couldn't believe possible and enough boxes of barely used brake pads.

Thanks for all the work Blaine and Van in developing this kit.

[mrblaine]

Originally posted by Kiwi

Blaine and Van need to stop testing pads now, I've got brakes that I couldn't believe possible and enough boxes of barely used brake pads.

Thanks for all the work Blaine and Van in developing this kit.

Thank you David for helping us with the feedback. We've not done enough long term testing to have a feel for how the rotor wear goes, so keep us informed.

We're still working on the bumper sticker to warn folks not to tailgate.

[speaceman]

I just drove home on the 405 with the big brake kit and all I have to say is Wow!

The difference in braking is phenomenal and I had a hydroboost set up before hand.

Pedal feel is awesome and is absolutely progressive all the way through the movement.

You only have to barely tap the pedal at stoplights to arrest the jeep (I used to have to maintain a steady pressure) and the brakes work really, really, really damn well at slowing the jeep down.

I think that the old hydroboost worked similarly well at stoping things, only it was a lot less transparent as to how much pedal force was needed (which was a lot more anyway) to achieve braking results and it was a lot less clear where the breaking point in lock up was under the old set up.

This new set up is crystal clear. Easy and smooth through all normal stopping situations with the breaking point clearly communicated every time via the pedal's position.

Further, if you do hit lock up, everything is very even and non dramatic, other than the MTRs screaming. It's very easy to keep the jeep straight.

Based on the drive up the 405, I have never been in a jeep with a more comfortably usable braking system. The set up is more comfortableand usable than stock systems in most of the cars I've owned.

Well, I'm driving my Jeep as a DD for the next 6 weeks or so. We'll see how the brakes hold up in LA, day to day driving with hills thrown in.

[StealthTJ]

Blaine,

Just picked up a set of 7000 series pads for the 4Runner and will be installing 'em this Sunday with fresh rotors.
If you don't mind, what's the break in procedure that you've been using for them.


Thank you,
Fred

[mrblaine]

Originally posted by StealthTJ
Blaine,

Just picked up a set of 7000 series pads for the 4Runner and will be installing 'em this Sunday with fresh rotors.
If you don't mind, what's the break in procedure that you've been using for them.


Thank you,
Fred

I have good success with 15-20 easy to moderate stops from 30-35 down to 3 mph.

Don't stop anywhere during that process and rest your foot on the brake. If you have to stop, use the parking brake to hold you until you can move again. Do the stops back to back if you can.

After the last one, get it out in higher speed traffic where you can drive for about 10 minutes or so at 60+ mph to cool the rotors down.

After the cool down interval, do a moderate to serious stop from 60 to 3 mph, again without resting your foot on the pedal after the stop.

Do that twice and go for another cool down run. After that, you should be highly impressed with your brakes, surprised in fact.

[StealthTJ]

Originally posted by mrblaine
I have good success with 15-20 easy to moderate stops from 30-35 down to 3 mph.

Don't stop anywhere during that process and rest your foot on the brake. If you have to stop, use the parking brake to hold you until you can move again. Do the stops back to back if you can.

After the last one, get it out in higher speed traffic where you can drive for about 10 minutes or so at 60+ mph to cool the rotors down.

After the cool down interval, do a moderate to serious stop from 60 to 3 mph, again without resting your foot on the pedal after the stop.

Do that twice and go for another cool down run. After that, you should be highly impressed with your brakes, surprised in fact.

Ok, installed the 7000 series EBC pads, fresh rotors, serviced the wheel bearings since it was all apart ('95 Toyota 4Runner).
Took it and for the break in run and all went well.

So, how are the breaks.
What can I say about the EBC 7000 series that already hasn't been said before here !!!!
The 4Runner stopped well before. The have 4 piston front calipers.
After, well, it went from stopping on $1.50 to stopping on a dime !!!

Thanks for all the testing on the various brakes Blaine.
The EBC 7000 series are fantastic !!!

Thanks again,
Fred

[mrblaine]

Originally posted by StealthTJ
Ok, installed the 7000 series EBC pads, fresh rotors, serviced the wheel bearings since it was all apart ('95 Toyota 4Runner).
Took it and for the break in run and all went well.

So, how are the breaks.
What can I say about the EBC 7000 series that already hasn't been said before here !!!!
The 4Runner stopped well before. The have 4 piston front calipers.
After, well, it went from stopping on $1.50 to stopping on a dime !!!

Thanks for all the testing on the various brakes Blaine.
The EBC 7000 series are fantastic !!!

Thanks again,
Fred

You're welcome Fred. I didn't do it alone. Van funded it, Lawrence did all the driving, I just did a bit of the legwork.

They are fairly entertaining though.

[StealthTJ]

Originally posted by mrblaine
You're welcome Fred. I didn't do it alone. Van funded it, Lawrence did all the driving, I just did a bit of the legwork.

They are fairly entertaining though.

Then thanks to all !!!

Geez, I just read my posting and my fingers weren't working well with my brain





Fred

[Lawrence]

Originally posted by mrblaine

They are fairly entertaining though.

Yes they are. They are so much better than any other pads we tested.

This weekend I was thinking about the whole testing stuff. Every week, we changed the pads and then I rated them against the previous weeks. But what I forgot to keep in mind was what I started with, some fairly pathetic stock brakes.

So, as I was remembering the way my TJ stopped (or didn't) with the stock brakes, I decided to take it for a spin. It had been over 2 weeks since I drove it, and I am still completely amazed at the way it stops (and I have the "small" caliper). For someone looking to upgrade from stock brakes, it will definitely blow their mind. If not, they need to pull their head out of their arse and get it examined. Going from stock brakes to this combo is like trading your Yugo for an Aston Martin.

[speaceman]

I figured I'd throw up another commentary on the brake kit, since I've put a decent amount of miles on my TJ since the brakes were first put on.

My initial impressions stand. The brakes work. Period.

They work well. As I stated before, everything is really linear and it is very easy to replicate the same breaking every time you use the pedal.

I have noticed no degradation at all in the brakes. Obviously it's only been a short while, but the brakes are working exactly as they did that first day they were on.

The best thing about the brakes is how evenly they apply braking to all four wheels.

This was something that was missing on my old set up.

I can get on the brakes pretty hard, on steep curving downgrades (think hollywood hillside roads) and I do not have to worry about modulating the pedal at all, nor do I have to worry about locking up the rears and sliding.

Three of the tires brake, and the inside rear will screech a bit as you quickly slow down around the downhill curves.

It is all very manageable and quite nice.

I'll say it again. These are some of the nicest brakes I've had on any vehicle.

Next month, I'll be able to see how they do pulling a small trailer up and down from big bear. I'll post impressions.

[Kampy]

I'd like to add another verification to this thread relating to the EBC pads.

I bought the big brake kit when it was first released and recieved the PF pads with it. I was less than impressed with the overall stopping power it provided, pretty much the same as the stock configuration. I didn't say anything, i just figured it is what it is.

I was talking with Blaine about an unrelated matter one day and he asked me about the brakes, I told him they were ok and he said if they are just ok something's not right. He sent me a set of take offs from the testing they were doing with Lawrence's jeep. That set of centric pads made a huge difference in the capability and the performance of the braking system. The proverbial night and day difference. I thought I was good with what I had, no more second thoughts, I was happy, my brakes were very good, exactly what I had originally expected.

I was talking with him again at a later date about another unrelated matter and he brought up the EBC pads, told me I should try a set, I'd be impressed with the difference. I thought ok, someday maybe. I was very happy with what I had, so I put it in the back of my mind. Well, I finally got around to getting a set to try. I put them on and bedded them in. What can I say, I've never had a set of brakes work so well on anything I've ever owned. I can't think of a proper descriptive term for them. It's to the point I would have to say the braking is so good it's enough to scare me. I can't believe the difference between a couple sets of pads. The first was blah, the second was pretty good, a huge improvement over the first. This set is as much better than the second than the second were from the first. These are easy to modulate and very predictable. I absolutely love them.

Take this for what it's worth, I'm one of those guys Blaine was grumbling about in the 30 years of stupid thread. I'm 44 and all I've ever done is turned wrenches for a living. I started in my dad's dealership when I was 13, at 17 made a career of being a mechanic in the air force, and now work as a civilian for the air force as a mechanic. I've installed well over a thousand sets of brakes on everything from cars and trucks to dump trucks to crawler tractors. I never once thought that something as simple and basic as a set of pads or shoes could make such a remarkable difference.

Blaine is my brake GOD.

As I said before, these brakes are scary good, and I like it.

Blaine and Van, thanks for your time, effort and dedication to something so important to everyones safety that most take for granted and willingly accept poor performance.

My wifes car is in need of new brakes, is there any reason to expect that the EBC pads would not perform similarly in another application?

[mrblaine]

Originally posted by Kampy

Take this for what it's worth, I'm one of those guys Blaine was grumbling about in the 30 years of stupid thread. I'm 44 and all I've ever done is turned wrenches for a living. I started in my dad's dealership when I was 13, at 17 made a career of being a mechanic in the air force, and now work as a civilian for the air force as a mechanic. I've installed well over a thousand sets of brakes on everything from cars and trucks to dump trucks to crawler tractors. I never once thought that something as simple and basic as a set of pads or shoes could make such a remarkable difference.

Blaine is my brake GOD.

I was not in the slightest comparing you to the morons I've run into recently.

As I said before, these brakes are scary good, and I like it.

Blaine and Van, thanks for your time, effort and dedication to something so important to everyones safety that most take for granted and willingly accept poor performance.

You're welcome Todd. It's nice to have folks notice the amount of work that goes into these things.

My wifes car is in need of new brakes, is there any reason to expect that the EBC pads would not perform similarly in another application?

I have no way of knowing how they will work. I suspect they will be better than most anything else though.

[speaceman]

Well, this will be my final set of impressions on the brake kit.

I had a chance to take my camping trailer on its inaugural trip.

I took my daughter camping up to Lake Arrowhead, so I figured it would be a good dry run to see how the trailer would shake out for the trips out to JV.

Anyway, I loaded up my jeep with my daughter, another dad and his daughter and we stuffed all of our camping gear into the trailer, along with a full cooler, wood and I also threw in all my JV tools and gear as well.

The brakes worked perfectly. I'd say, at a guess, the trailer weighed about 1000lbs.

I felt the weight a bit behind the jeep, but the brakes worked about the same as with the jeep unloaded.

I had no issues at all on the freeway, nor going up or down from arrowhead.

The brakes worked perfectly, and they scrubbed speed easily and quickly the one time I had to stop a bit hard on the way down from arrowhead on the 18

Anyway, here is a photo of the jeep and trailer so you guys can get an idea of what I was towing.



Overall, I am quite pleased with how well the jeep pulls this trailer and with how well the brakes work. I was worried the jeep might overheat running the A/C or going up the 18, as the temps were around 90 this weekend, but the needle barely got over 210.

Anyway, once again, I recommend the brake kit. The brakes certainly work well with light towing.

[quadna71]

does anyone have a recommendation as to where i can find the best price on the EBC pads? nobody in my area carries nor orders them - online i'm finding them here and there but not sure if i'm getting them for the right price. thanks!
chris (thinks he should put his 15" kit on the wife's jeep and order the 16" kit for his own)

this seems to be about the best price i can find on them.
http://www.autopartswarehouse.com/si...FydHMuaHRtbA==

[mrblaine]

Originally Posted by quadna71

does anyone have a recommendation as to where i can find the best price on the EBC pads? nobody in my area carries nor orders them - online i'm finding them here and there but not sure if i'm getting them for the right price. thanks!
chris (thinks he should put his 15" kit on the wife's jeep and order the 16" kit for his own)

this seems to be about the best price i can find on them.
http://www.autopartswarehouse.com/si...FydHMuaHRtbA==

EBC has some of the strictest MAP policies I've ever seen. I found probably 20 different online vendors when I was looking to buy test parts and there was not one iota of variation in online pricing. The only differences came through free shipping with orders over a certain dollar amount.

If it's the pads for Van's kits, he can sell them to you. If not, good luck, I sure wasn't very good at finding a discount.

[quadna71]

And.....done. I just got off the phone with Van - he's having his distributor send him a set and they should be hitting the road for my house probably around Friday. It never ceases to amaze me how with all the stuff he has going on there he still seems to be the one who answers the phone whenever I call!
Thanks to mrblaine and Van (again!)
Chris

[mrblaine]

Originally Posted by quadna71

It never ceases to amaze me how with all the stuff he has going on there he still seems to be the one who answers the phone whenever I call!

Chris

They won't let him touch anything else for fear of it getting screwed up.

[VancoPBS]

Originally Posted by mrblaine

They won't let him touch anything else for fear of it getting screwed up.

I hate you.

[NAILER341]

Originally Posted by mrblaine

They won't let him touch anything else for fear of it getting screwed up.

that is funny

[CliffDweller]

Originally Posted by mrblaine

EBC has some of the strictest MAP policies I've ever seen. I found probably 20 different online vendors when I was looking to buy test parts and there was not one iota of variation in online pricing. The only differences came through free shipping with orders over a certain dollar amount.

If it's the pads for Van's kits, he can sell them to you. If not, good luck, I sure wasn't very good at finding a discount.

Interesting, when I called Van about an upgrade for my kit he told me to purchase the EBC pads from the internet.